Koichi Wakata: Astronaut’s Underwear

Meet Koichi Wakata, a Japanese Astronaut, who has been on the International Space Station for 138 days. But get this: for the last 30 days, he’s worn the same pair of prototype underwear all in the name of science. Read more about it below, see photos, and watch a video.

Koichi Wakata, Space Station Astronaut

I suspect that for Japanese Astronaut Koichi Wakata, a good meal, a hot shower, and clean clothes never sounded so good! After circling Earth 2,208 times, speeding more than 57 million miles in orbit and avoiding near misses with flying space junk, it could be Koichi Wakata’s astronaut underwear that makes him famous!

After he returned on the space shuttle Endeavour, astronaut Koichi Wakata revealed that he had been wearing the same pair of prototype undies for a full month – as a space test of course!

Koichi Wakata’s astronaut’s underwear, called J-Wear, is made of cotton and polyester with a silver coating that gives it its stink-free special properties. It also includes socks, T-shirts, trousers and leggings. This stuff was designed to resist the rigours of long-duration space travel, the anti-static, flame-resistant, odour-eating, bacteria-killing, water-absorbent underwear are part of a project aimed at ensuring that when it comes to packing for long-duration trips to the Moon and Mars, future space travellers will need only minimal space in their suitcases.

“Eventually we’re going to do exploration, we’re going to go to the Moon, we’re going to go beyond the Moon someday — and little things like this will seem like really, really big things when you’re far away from Mother Earth,” explained Mike Suffredini

Apparently, this J-Wear works because his fellow astronauts did not complain or do a hygiene intervention on him. Or maybe they were just polite. I suppose we will all find out at some point because Koichi Wakata’s astronaut underwear were given to some very unfortunate experts who must examine just how well they worked – or didn’t.

Koichi Wakata Photos